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Glaciers from the Air

SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA-- On our flight to the South Pole, the view out the tiny windows on the LC-130 are mostly of a flat,…



One Month in the Deep Field, Part 2

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- We spent the first week or so in the deep field visiting GPS stations that were left out on the ice over-winter and setting out passive seismometers. Whillans Ice Stream behaves in a unique way – it slips twice a day in episodes that are linked to the tidal cycle...



South Pole Ack Camp

SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA-- After more than a month in McMurdo, members of the AGAP team are camping at the South Pole to get their bodies acclimatized to high altitude living. Their destination is AGAP south camp in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet...



An Airport Made of Ice

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- Our project takes us all over the continent to install equipment but to get there we have to leave from Williams Field, an airport near McMurdo Station. Willy Field has a runway equipped to handle the largest aircraft that fly into Antarctica. However, this runway is different...



One Month in the Deep Field, Part 1

ABOARD AN LC-130 EN ROUTE TO CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND-- It’s with a heavy heart that I climb aboard “Ivan the Terra” bus to get transported to Willy Field and off the Antarctic continent...



Beneath the Bridge

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- (By Ron Hipschman) Sometimes, when walking around McMurdo Station, one can encounter some interesting things. When we walk from the cafeteria to our office in Crary Lab, we take a little bridge to get over some pipes. In over a week of crossing that bridge many times a day, I never noticed what was lurking beneath...



Diving by Proxy

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- Last week, we shot footage of our colleague John Weller preparing to SCUBA dive under the ice. I felt a definite pang of regret that I wasn't joining him in the 28 degree water...



Little Ice

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- When you first come to Antarctica you are overwhelmed by the enormity, vastness and seemingly endless large structures of ice which dominate this continent (see my last dispatch). These larger scale visions persists until you begin to look closer...



Gorpmatic

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- (By Ron Hipschman) Solomon helps remote field camps with food. Today we found him making up one of the most important foods - gorp. Check out the cool tool he uses to mix the tasty treat...



Big Ice

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- When you first come to Antarctica you are overwhelmed with the amount of ice. Every direction you turn you are surrounded by it dominating and controlling the landscape, white against white. Beautiful and powerful...